Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any thoughts on synthetic data?
Dead end. You cannot create information out of nothing.
Which is why thought experiments are always useless.
It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
381–390 of 599 posts
Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#382Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't you prefer someone fearful of the apocalypse and who takes it seriously running such a company over someone who is ambivalent or doesn't consider it a risk?
He doesn't seem fearful of the apocalypse. He seems to consider preparing for it to be a fun hobby.
That's not my take. I think prepping is a pretty strong indication of concern. That's not to say you can't enjoy preparing in addition to concern.
Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#383Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only reason Sam would leave OpenAI is if he thought AGI could only be achieved elsewhere, or that AGI was impossible without some other breakthrough in another industry (energy, hardware, etc). High-intelligence AGI is the last human invention — the holy grail of technology. Nothing could be more ambitious, and if we know anything about Altman, it is that his ambition has no ceiling. Having said all of that, Open…
> Sure, we don’t understand qualia. We might never understand. But that doesn’t mean we can’t replicate. I’m pretty sure it means exactly that. Without actually understanding subjective experience, there’s a fundamental doubt akin to the Chinese room. Sweeping that under the carpet and declaring victory doesn’t in fact victory make.
If the universe is material, then we already know with 10-billion percent certainty that some arrangement of matter causes qualia. All we have to do is figure out what arrangements do that.
Ironically, we understand consciousness perfectly. It is literally the only thing we know — conscious experience. We just don’t know, yet, how to replicate it outside of biological reproduction.
Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#384Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://youtu.be/dbKwJM06fRM
Technically true, but also doesn’t advance the conversation in any way. Eventually no one will exist or care about anything, but until then everyone will have to live with the decisions and apathy of those who came before. https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a16995
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Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#385Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know anything, but isn't Sam already rich? And, if OpenAI is in a position to capture profits in an expanding AI industry, isn't this the best possible time to lock-in equity for long term gains and trillionaireship? For many people, sadly, one can never be rich enough. My point is, planning for both short term exit, and long term gains, is essentially the same in this particular situation. What a boon! Nice…
Sam was already a billionaire years ago. He is one of SV most prolific investors, with equity in hundreds of startups. He writes big checks as well from time to time, Helion for instance he gave 375 million.
He also got weird facial plastic surgery and looks like a wanted mobster now.
Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#386There are legit criticisms of Sam Altman that can be levied but none of them are in this article. This is just reductive nonsense. The arguments are essentially: 1. The technology has plateaued, not in reality, but in the perception of the average layperson over the last two years. 2. Sam _only_ has a record as a deal maker, not a physicist. 3. AI can sometimes do bad things & utilizes a lot of energy. I normally rea…
If Sam claimed we'll fix climate with the help of AI, he is either a liar or a fool.
Our problem isn't technology, it's humans.
Unless he suggests mass indoctrination per AI AI won't fix anything.
Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#387In my view we should also stop taking the Great Technoking at his word and move away from lionizing this old well-moneyed elite in general. Real technological progress in the 21st century is more capital-intensive than before. It also usually requires more diverse talent. Yet the breakthroughs we can make in this half-century can be far greater than any before: commercial-grade fusion power (where Lawrence Livermore…
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Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#388I sort of wish there was a filter for my life that would ignore everything AI (stories about AI, people talking about AI and of course content generated by AI). The world has become a less trustworthy place for a lot of reasons and AI is only making it worse, not better.
https://github.com/laylavish/uBlockOrigin-HUGE-AI-Blocklist
Thanks! Now I just need to filter my LinkedIn feed and the corporate AI leaders at work.
Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#389Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know anything, but isn't Sam already rich? And, if OpenAI is in a position to capture profits in an expanding AI industry, isn't this the best possible time to lock-in equity for long term gains and trillionaireship? For many people, sadly, one can never be rich enough. My point is, planning for both short term exit, and long term gains, is essentially the same in this particular situation. What a boon! Nice…
Sam was already a billionaire years ago. He is one of SV most prolific investors, with equity in hundreds of startups. He writes big checks as well from time to time, Helion for instance he gave 375 million.
To be clear, Altman invested $375 million in Helion Energy's 2021 funding round. Helion Energy a for-profit fusion energy company of which he is the chairman.
Re: It's Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word
#390Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think for anyone who has been intimately involved with this last generation of "unicorns", it really does not look like an "exit" if that means bankruptcy, end of the company, betrayal of goals, or what have you: for a high-growth startup of approximately ten years, finding liquidity for employees is perhaps counter-intuitively a sign of deep maturity and that the company is concerned for the long haul (and that in…
> In a world context where the largest companies are more likely to stay private than IPO Which world is this?
From a Scottish Mortgage report: "companies are staying private for longer and until higher valuations".
Amazon founded in 1994
1997 listed at $400m
Google founded in 1998
2004 listed at $23bn
Spotify founded in 2006
2018 listed at $27bn
Airbnb founded in 2008
2020 listed at $47bn
Epic games founded in 1991
2022 unlisted value $32bn
Space Exploration founded in 2002
2022 unlisted value $125bn
ByteDance founded in 2012
2022 unlisted value $360bn